We will be covering a broad time line throughout this course, starting with the origin of film and moving on then to the present. For an idea of where we're starting today and where we're going by the end of the course, please take a few minutes this morning to watch this film: The History of Film.
Early film was little more than the thrill of capturing "real life." Finally, through technology, photographers were able to depict reality in a way never before possible. This had many uses. For one, it allowed people to witness strange or exotic locations, cultures, or people. Now someone who lived in New York City didn't have to spend a month on a steamer boat to visit far-away-lands. Presidents could be seen without having to campaign in your home town. Life could be seen as it "really was." These slices of life are documentaries in the strictest sense. They are "actualities"-- little more than moving snapshots. Note there is no plot or character development--just real life.
Watch these early films from the late 1890's and early 1900's. As you watch, take notes about the director(s) and the titles and content of the film. Summarize in a few words or a sentence or two what each film is about. At the end of the collection, answer the following:
The oldest surviving film in existence at this point is Louis Le Prince's Roundhay Garden Scene (1888). This sequence was recorded on an 1885 Eastman Kodak paper base
photographic film through Le Prince's single-lens combi-camera-projector. It moved at 12 frames per second.
Le Prince's life was also interesting and there's a mystery (and some say conspiracy) attached to his death. Le Prince was never able to perform a planned public demonstration in the United States of his films because he mysteriously vanished from a train on 16 September, 1890 --His body and luggage (including his film camera) were never found. Le Prince's disappearance allowed Thomas Edison to take credit for the invention of motion pictures in America, but now Le Prince has been heralded as 'The Father of Cinematography.'
Edison Kinetoscope films: (1894-1896)
Titles in this clip include: The Kiss, Serpentine Dances, Sandow the Strong Man, Comic Boxing, Cock Fighting, The Barber Shop, Feeding the Chickens, Seminary Girls & Boxing Cats
Many of Edison's early films were shot by W.K.L. Dickson. Thomas Edison invented the idea of the Kinetoscope but it was Dickson who designed it between 1889-1892. The first kinetoscope exhibition occurred in New York, NY in 1894.
Other Kinetoscope films:
Homework: Please read the article "The Beginning of Film." Take notes of what you found interesting/important or confusing. Put ?, comment, etc. on index card to hand in Jan. 30.
In addition to reading, please record a 20-30 second "actuality" with your cell phone or digital recording device. Your actuality should simply record someone real doing something typical. Use the material from today's class to give you ideas of the kinds of subject matter and situations you can use. Bring your digital file to next class for editing.
The Birth of Film
Early film was little more than the thrill of capturing "real life." Finally, through technology, photographers were able to depict reality in a way never before possible. This had many uses. For one, it allowed people to witness strange or exotic locations, cultures, or people. Now someone who lived in New York City didn't have to spend a month on a steamer boat to visit far-away-lands. Presidents could be seen without having to campaign in your home town. Life could be seen as it "really was." These slices of life are documentaries in the strictest sense. They are "actualities"-- little more than moving snapshots. Note there is no plot or character development--just real life.
Watch these early films from the late 1890's and early 1900's. As you watch, take notes about the director(s) and the titles and content of the film. Summarize in a few words or a sentence or two what each film is about. At the end of the collection, answer the following:
- What do you notice about the films?
- What subject matter do they deal with?
- What do you notice about the shots and camera work in these films?
The Films
Edweard Muybridge (1830-1904): Our first pioneer of the art of film is the photographer Edweard Muybridge. Muybridge was a photographer who became famous when former California Governor Leland Stanford contacted him to help settle a bet over
whether all four hooves of a running horse left the ground. Muybridge began experimenting with an array of 12 cameras
photographing a galloping horse in a sequence of shots. Between 1878 and 1884, Muybridge perfected his method, proving that horses do have all four hooves off the ground at some point during
their running stride. Muybridge worked at the University of Pennsylvania between 1883 and
1886, producing thousands of photographs of humans and animals in
motion. He published several
books featuring his motion photographs and toured Europe and North
America, presenting his photographic methods using a projection device
he'd developed, the Zoopraxiscope.
Some other interesting bits about Muybridge: During a break from his photographic research, his wife, Flora, had an affair with Major Harry Larkyns, a
drama critic. Believing that Larkyns had fathered the couple's recently
born son, Muybridge tracked him down, shot, and killed him. At his
trial for murder in 1875, several witnesses testified that Muybridge's
personality had changed after he received a head injury in which he lost his ability to taste and smell. The jury didn't buy the insanity defense, but acquitted Muybridge on the grounds of "justifiable homicide." Muybridge died in 1904. His contributions to art and photography spurred the works of other film inventors, many of which we will study today.
Please watch the following two films, the first a documentary: Photographs of Motion
and the second, a series of Muybridge's photographs, sped up to show motion.
Le Prince's life was also interesting and there's a mystery (and some say conspiracy) attached to his death. Le Prince was never able to perform a planned public demonstration in the United States of his films because he mysteriously vanished from a train on 16 September, 1890 --His body and luggage (including his film camera) were never found. Le Prince's disappearance allowed Thomas Edison to take credit for the invention of motion pictures in America, but now Le Prince has been heralded as 'The Father of Cinematography.'
Edison Kinetoscope films: (1894-1896)
Titles in this clip include: The Kiss, Serpentine Dances, Sandow the Strong Man, Comic Boxing, Cock Fighting, The Barber Shop, Feeding the Chickens, Seminary Girls & Boxing Cats
Many of Edison's early films were shot by W.K.L. Dickson. Thomas Edison invented the idea of the Kinetoscope but it was Dickson who designed it between 1889-1892. The first kinetoscope exhibition occurred in New York, NY in 1894.
Other Kinetoscope films:
- Statue of Liberty (1898)
- The inauguration of President McKinley (1901)
- Skyscrapers of New York (1903)
- Moscow Clad in Snow (1906)
- Vancouver (1907)
- Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (Lumiere Bros) (1895)
- Lion, London Zoological Gardens (Lumiere Bros) (1895)
- The Sprinkler Sprinkled (Lumiere Bros) (1895)
- Le Squelette Joyeux (the happy skeleton) (1895)
- Arab Cortege (Lumiere Bros) (1896)
- Various actualities (documentaries)
Homework: Please read the article "The Beginning of Film." Take notes of what you found interesting/important or confusing. Put ?, comment, etc. on index card to hand in Jan. 30.
In addition to reading, please record a 20-30 second "actuality" with your cell phone or digital recording device. Your actuality should simply record someone real doing something typical. Use the material from today's class to give you ideas of the kinds of subject matter and situations you can use. Bring your digital file to next class for editing.
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